No matter what turns out to be the result of this year’s proposed changes to the Junkanoo parades, many Bahamians are upset by the manner by which they have been made. Prime Minister Perry Christie and his Minister of Youth and Sports and the entire Cabinet should take note of the damage done, make amends and stop squandering so much of the goodwill which propelled them to office, this time around. They are also disturbed that in difficult economic times when the government has in place austerity measures, it is paying a million dollars to a foreign company to install bleachers for Junkanoo.
In addition, having made extensive political mileage with their promise to consult extensively with the Bahamian people, Prime Minister Christie and his team are today being roundly and soundly criticized for what seems a persistent desire to make decisions without such respectful dialogue. Today, with his party in convention and his government’s style and personality established, Prime Minister Christie is proving the truth in the old adage that old habits die hard. Evidence for this is to be seen in the manner in which both he and his Minister of Youth and Sports have opted to deal with the issues arising from a raft of decisions concerning this year’s Junkanoo parades.
First, the parades were renamed. Then the period for the festival was extended. And, more egregiously, decisions were made – again without extensive public discussions – to stage portions of them on the Cable Beach strip. A number of Bahamians, some of them in opposition to the government and others who support them completely, are today troubled by what appears to be an incipient tendency towards autocracy and high handedness on the part of government. The Christie team is apparently oblivious to the fact that the public is today more sophisticated, better educated and convinced that it should – by right – play a large part in shaping and informing decisions which have the potential to affect them either directly or indirectly.
Our speculation is that while the government may have been sincere when it said that it would ‘consult’ with the people, they may have under-estimated the extent to which so-called ordinary people have come to believe that their views do matter. So, when Minister of Youth and Sports, Neville Wisdom indicates that he has ‘consulted’ with Junkanoo leaders, he may be overestimating the roles they play. They may be spokesman for themselves and nobody else. Similarly, the Minister and the government he represents may again be off the mark when it comes to issues relating to budgets and other questions concerning money. So called ‘ordinary’ people are perfectly savvy and know that when decisions are made to spend money, the question arises as to whether the outlay is to be considered as a cost or as an investment.
Bahamians are no longer prepared to accept the dictates of any leader. They want to know, feel and believe that their views matter, and that when their leaders promise to consult, they would do just that. It is therefore not at all surprising today that many Bahamians believe that something seems dreadfully off in the government’s apparently arbitrary decision to spend a million dollars on Junkanoo bleachers. And, too, there are today any number of complaints and concerns about the government’s decision to relocate aspects of the annual festival to the Cable Beach strip.
While we take no pleasure in second guessing the government, we must confess that we are not particularly pleased by the manner in which these decisions have been taken. We would have been more appreciative had the government been more transparent in this matter. Had it canvassed public opinion more intensively, it would have allowed itself an opportunity to be guided by those publics which have a direct stake in the parade. One such constituency involves those thousands of Bahamians and other residents who live and work in the Cable Beach area, many of whom believe that the parades will prove disastrously destructive to an area on which so much money has already been spent.
For our part, we would have been happier with the government’s decision to bring the parades to Cable Beach had it been backed up by relevant impact assessments. Of equal significance in these hard economic times is the government’s decision to fork out a million dollars on bleachers. The question which comes to mind immediately concerns whether the Minister of Youth and Sports has any real idea how much money will be generated by this outlay of funds. While we know for certain that the firm providing the bleachers cannot lose, we are not too certain about the Bahamian taxpayer.
If – as we suspect – the government is projecting revenues on the basis of past economic trends and demand, we counsel and caution that these may not be an adequate basis upon which to base this year’s decisions. Having been caught up in the euphoria of the boom years, thousands of Bahamians had available to them significant disposable income, some of which was spent on entertainment. This year they might make totally different decisions.
Editorial, The Bahama Journal
